Those seeking a distillation of Texas politics in 2023 could do worse than the Rattlesnake Roundup.
A young boy puts his hand to the plexiglass window looking across one of the pits holding western diamondback rattlesnakes in Sweetwater, Texas, Friday, March 10, 2023. Hunters bring the snakes from the surrounding region, earning money as they do, and the reptiles are piled into the large pens as they await processing. This is the 65th year of the World's Largest Rattlesnake Roundup.
“There’s an internal conflict, at least for me,” Bishop said, standing in the skinning pit. “Their intentions are good, to support farmers. But at what point does it become sport?” Like Texas, Sweetwater has stubbornly resisted those efforts. The Jaycees who put on the event have successfully fended off political efforts to stop or change the roundup for 65 years, mirroring the state's conservative politicians, who are fighting to preserve their power and values in the face of a rapidly changing state.
She has visited the state Capitol to meet with lawmakers, she said, pushing back against political efforts there to censor books in school librariesBishop said her projects have been difficult given “the state’s challenging political climate.” A member of the Sweetwater Jaycees pumps gas into a suspected rattlesnake den during a guided hunt. On Saturday, March 11, 2023 in Sweetwater Texas.Pumping gas fumes into rock cracks to chase out snakes still bunched-together and lethargic from hibernation is the traditional way of rounding up rattlesnakes in spring. But as with other Sweetwater traditions, the practice has faced blowback in recent years from modern sensibilities.
“The Sweetwater Machine is well rehearsed because many have tried to shut them down for many reasons. We were not trying to shut them down, but we were treated immediately as though we were,” said John Davis, a retired biologist from TPWD who led the multiyear effort to ban gassing. “We were met with the attitude that you’re just the latest person to try to shut us down, and you’re going to fail like everybody else.
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